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Tag: Anti-Corruption fight

  • Estate surveyors and anti-corruption fight

    Estate surveyors and anti-corruption fight

    Sir: Corruption is a persistent problem and a phenomenon that affects all countries, every sector of the economy and everyone in the society. No nation, state or society is immune to corruption. Corruption distorts policy decisions, weakens economic growth, deters investment, undermines human development, derails a country’s progress, runs counter to the basic interests and needs of the society and poses a frightening threat to economic development and social stability.

    One could understand from this standpoint why intolerance of corruption is strong and growing around the world, which has made it a topic of unabated debate at the national and international levels, a fight at the United Nations and its member states.

    Though a global malaise, the depth and extent of its reach across the public and private sectors, and all levels of government in Nigeria is tragically stupendous and frightening. That makes it difficult for government alone to succeed in preventing, not to talk of fighting it   without cooperation and collaborative efforts of the private sector, state agencies and critical stakeholders including the professional organizations, particularly the estate surveying and valuation profession whose roles and services are germane and key to economic development.

    Read Also: Anti-corruption fight: CSOs pass vote of confidence on Bawa

    Professional estate surveyors and valuers are critical to reducing corruption. This is because professional ethics, education, and oversight which are at the core of the global estate surveying and valuation profession are key to tackling corruption. The profession has made it known in several fora that it is established on the moral values of honesty and devotion, and operates on a code of professional ethics and practice, for which reason it is wholeheartedly committed to the anti-corruption drive of the government and would assist in every way possible to achieve the lofty objective. The commitment of the profession to good governance, and governance architectures which confronts corruption and corrupt practices in the country is in the interest of the public. 

    Like the saying goes, ‘Charity begins at home’. The profession keeps tab on members’ adherence to the guiding principles in its Code of Professional Ethics and Practice, frowns at professional misconduct and corrupt practices by its members, while applying the stick to erring members without fear or favour. This is the standard upon which the practice of Estate Surveying and Valuation is anchored. This is because the services we offer are vital to the economic development of the nation and well-being of the society. Therefore, the profession would not compromise on the virtues of honesty and trust, which are highly required of us in the discharge of our responsibilities. 

    Most of the members of the profession have registered with the Special Control Unit against Money Laundering (SCUML) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and have been forwarding necessary reports to the unit, all to ensure that our profession do not provide ‘’safe haven’’ for money launderers.

    In our resolve to strengthen and sustain the fight against corruption, the profession also engage, collaborate and partner other anti-graft agencies- Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). We have also re-emphasized our support to one of the cardinal programmes of the present administration, which is the fight against corruption. 

    The theme of our 2023 national annual conference, ’Asset Valuation as a Global Anti-Corruption Tool-The Nigeria Experience’ captured our stance on corruption. At the end of the conference, we availed the government and policy makers our resolutions in a Communiqué to enable them come up with policy thrusts that would checkmate corruption and enhance national development. The document was also made available to relevant stakeholders for the purpose of using the conclusions for re-appraisal and aligning of real estate practices, strategies and operations with the best global practices.

    Corruption inhibits economic growth and affects business operations, investments and employment, to mention a few. It is in the interest of every Nigerian for corruption to be killed or effectively tackled. Therefore, well-meaning Nigerians must be more resolute in confronting the evil of corruption, if the nation must progress and make meaningful economic development.

    Estate Surveying and Valuation profession would keep supporting anti-corruption efforts. It would keep advocating for good government, because where governance is strong, the role played by professional Estate Surveyors and Valuers in tackling corruption would be amplified.

    •Ayo Adekunle,Lagos.

  • Bello laud Buhari’s anti-corruption stance

    Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, has declared the support of the people of the state for the fight against corruption by the present administration in Nigeria.

    The governor in statement issues in Lokoja on Friday urged the Media to support the anti-corruption war of the present administration under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Read Also:Buhari canvasses economic support for rural women

    He commended President Buhari for his “unwavering fight against corruption,” saying that his administration has keyed into the vision of the president for Nigeria as a nation renowned for “incorruptibility and development”.

    He stated: “A set of leaders held the nation down for many decades; destroyed our public schools, public transport system, public healthcare system and almost endangered our generation with wanton corruption.

    “The leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari has restored our pride as a nation. He has made a bold statement to the International community, that we are not all about corruption and that we have leaders who can live above corruption.

    “President Muhammadu Buhari is not just a pride to our nation, but to the entire African continent. With him at the helm of affairs in Nigeria, the world is beginning to regain their trust in our dear nation”.

    Governor Bello thanked the President for remaining undaunted by the “sustained resistance of corrupt people against his administration,” adding that the corrupt people are beginning to “settle in the same bucket to fight Africa’s most incorruptible President”.

    He thanked the people of the state for supporting his administration, assuring them of more democracy dividends in the months ahead.

    “Our administration is working hard to put the right foot forward for the betterment of our dear State. We have made tremendous progress in the sectors of agriculture, healthcare, education and transportation.

    “The seeds we have sown in the past two and a half years are beginning to yield fruits. We have ensured security of lives and property like no other administration in the history of Kogi State. We shall continue to work for the greatness of our dear State.

    “I urge the people of our dear state to remain steadfast on the part of truth, development and transparent governance. We have made a big difference from the years of no-clear-direction”, he said.

  • Stop mocking anti-corruption fight – FG tells media

    Stop mocking anti-corruption fight – FG tells media

    The Federal Government on Monday admonished the media to be fully supportive to its anti-corruption fight and desist from mocking the process.

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made the call at the opening of the 68th General Assembly of the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON) in Abuja.

    Mohammed said that the media as the Fourth Estate of the Realm could not afford to sit on the fence in the fight against corruption.

    He said that the government was not averse to constructive criticism of the process but that it was wrong for the media mock the corruption fight through their reporting.

    “Without mincing words, let me use this platform to appeal directly to the media in general to join this administration in facing the problem of corruption.

    “In recent times, it is not unusual to read such headlines as ‘Buhari’s Government Losing Anti-Corruption War’, `Buhari’s Anti-Corruption War is Failing’, ‘Arewa Youths Knock President Buhari over Failing Anti-corruption War’.

    “This is sheer mockery, not reporting, and this
    war is not Buhari’s war. It is our war.

    “As we have said times without number, this fight must not be seen as Buhari’s fight. It must not be seen as the Federal Government’s fight. It is our fight.

    “We are not saying the media should not criticize us over our strategy for the fight, but they should stop mocking us.

    “If we fail to win by defeating corruption, it will simply kill us as a nation,’’ he said.

    The minister noted that if the media continued to celebrate every setback suffered in prosecuting corruption cases, it will give succour to the corrupt.

    He said Nigeria was winning the war against corruption with the type of leadership provided by Buhari.

    “Yes, corruption is fighting back furiously, but it cannot match the courage, the determination and the commitment of this administration, nor can it dampen the leadership of President Buhari.

    “We are tackling corruption; we have added 500 million dollars to our Sovereign Wealth Fund that stagnated at the one-billion-dollar that was used to set it up.

    “We have raised our foreign reserves from 23 billion dollars to 35 billion dollars.

    “We stopped the payment of phantom subsidy of between N800 billion and 1.3 trillion Naira annually, yet petroleum products are available at competitive prices,’’ he said.

    The minister said that the government had recovered at least 43 million dollars and 56 houses from one former government official.

    He said that 2.9 billion dollars had been recovered from looters so far, while theWhistle-blower policy had led to the recovery of 151 million dollars and N8 billion in looted funds from three sources.

    Mohammed added that with the sincere and full implementation of the Treasury Singles Account, N3 trillion had accrued to the government.

    He said that with the elimination of thousands of ghost workers in its payroll, the Federal Government had saved N120 billion.

  • Anti-corruption fight and judicial mockery

    Besides ethnicity, religious bigotry and fanaticism, corruption is the leviathan monster that if we do not agree and come together to tackle it will consume the country. Corruption in Nigeria is a huge industrial complex traversing the entire landscape of the country from the rural areas to the urban centres.  It is therefore national, institutional, systemic and indeed a life-style.  As a country, corruption has caused a humungous waste of our resources and reputation so much so that the former British Prime Minister found it convenient against all diplomatic niceties to refer to Nigeria as ‘fantastically corrupt’  when the President of Nigeria, the largest black country on earth was visiting the United Kingdom.

    The fight against corruption has always been tempered with ethno-religious sentiments whenever there is a move against corrupt persons in government or in the private sector.   Worst still is the fact that the government agencies and institutions for fighting corruption have not exhibited and deployed adequate skill and rhythm thereby exposing them to lampoon for lacking in professionalism.

    Contrary to the helpless lamentation of the President, the judiciary and rogue lawyers who hold on to the weak strands of technicality to defeat the course of justice or outright perversion are not really the problem in the fight against corruption.  The real problem is that a cross section of Nigerians has refused to join in the fight which they view through the prism of political partisanship and ethnicity.  This is in addition to relative incompetence of some of the agencies responsible for the fight against corruption that prefers sensational media trial and publicity to meticulous gathering of evidence in order to secure conviction.  The law does not operate as a voodoo cult; you have to place something before a court before you get something in return.

    It is not the place of the judge to read the lips and body language of anybody but decides issues on the quantum of evidence placed before him which he puts on the imaginary scale.  Thereafter, the impartial blind-folded virgin will bring down the sword and deal the blow not looking at the face of whosoever is before her, rich, poor, beautiful or ugly.

    In a situation where the anti-graft agencies rush to court with suspects before gathering evidence or without gathering tangible evidence   hoping that the judiciary should do its job for it is an affront on the Nigerian Constitution.  In all the high profile cases being prosecuted by the anti-graft agencies, I am not aware of any conviction being recorded.  All we see are the small fries and foot-soldiers being convicted while the barons are left to escape like the last drama that played out in the Code of Conduct Tribunal where the principal member of the National Assembly was discharged and acquitted.

    We agree that experience matters in law just like in other professions but knowledge and competence to effectively and efficiently prosecute criminal cases is not a function of year of call of a lawyer or conferment of privilege in terms of inner or outer bar.  There are competent lawyers without title who are hungry to display their skills.  Rather engage these vibrant lawyers who have no access to the media to advertise themselves, the anti-graft agencies are busy looking for overfed senior lawyers who do not have anything again to prove to prosecute their cases.

    The judiciary is a product of the larger society and cannot be better than what it is today given the way and manner selection or employment to the Bench is made.  Not to talk about the fact that our value system has been corrupted by inordinate quest for material things.  In the days of the Eliases, the Oputas, Kayode Esos, Mohammed Bellos, you had justices with great moral strength, intellectual bearing and philosophical disposition.  The same period witnessed serious minded practitioners with integrity at the Bar who helped to shape our law and judicial precedents which can stand the test of any jurisdiction anywhere in the world in contradistinction to today’s cash and carry black market judges and practitioners that we have.  This is with utmost respect to a few principled, committed and brilliant judges like Justice Kolawoles of the Federal High Court that are not tainted and have not been tarred with the brush of corruption.

    To truly deal with corruption, the entire citizenry has to come on board and support the fight. Before we get into the train, the relevant anti-graft agencies should bear the amour of professionalism and neutrality. Corruption has no tribe or religion and its impact affects all of us in equal measure as it weighs the nation down. The campaign by the National Assembly that it is being unfairly targeted by the executive when there are specific allegations against some members is puerile and a great obstacle to the fight which every patriot should be concerned about and resist.

    The critical question to ask in the circumstances should be, ‘are there evidence against the individuals alleged or not?’  We should not be concerned whether the agencies are not proceeding with everyone suspected or alleged of one heist, infraction or the other at the same time.  However, where such allegations are made, Nigerians should insist that at the appropriate time everybody involved should be brought to book no matter whose horse is gored.  Nobody should be a sacred cow and nobody should be above the law. As Bracton the philosopher famously held in the 13th Century, “The world was governed by law, human or divine. The king himself ought not to be subject to man but subject to God and to law because the law makes him king.”

    The whole world is watching the shenanigans of members of the National Assembly who are behaving as if government exist only for them and their selfish interest.  The quality and content of their debate is infantile in the extreme just as their histrionics is an insult to a nation that parades such a fine array of intellectuals and patriots.    The fight against corruption should not be left for the agencies alone; it is a fight for every well meaning patriot.  Sending suspects and accused people to court without any shred of evidence is a judicial mockery; a good trial is a product of good investigation. The investigative agencies should deploy greater skill and professionalism and rise above media trial in the court of public opinion and sensationalism and gather credible evidence to win the fight against corruption.

     

    • Kebonkwu Esq is an Abuja-based attorney.

     

     

  • Don wants special attention to anti-corruption fight

    A don, Dr Ferdinand Ottoh, has urged the judiciary to give special attention to the anti-corruption fight of the Federal Government by accelerating hearing of corruption-related cases.
    Ottoh, a lecturer in the Department of Political Science, University of Lagos, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
    “Nothing meaningful will be achieved in the current anti-corruption fight without the unalloyed support of the judiciary. If it requires reviewing its jurisprudence in matters of corruption cases, let it be so,’’ he said.
    Ottoh said that corruption in public offices was a major setback to Nigeria’s development, warning that the country would not be able to record any meaningful progress until eradication of the menace.
    “We can only talk of the Nigerian state when it has the capacity to provide welfare for the people and meet its obligations as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution.
    “The corruption in the country before the Muhammadu Buhari administration rendered Nigeria incapable to protect lives and property and provide education and other necessities to its citizens.
    “A situation in which individuals have pillaged the resources of the country, thereby making Nigeria unable to meet the obligations of a state will further her dependency and crises.
    “The truth is that the Buhari administration’s stance on anti-corruption is a redemption course that this nation needs for sustenance,’’ he said.

  • Buhari to declare N/Assembly seminar on corruption open

    Buhari to declare N/Assembly seminar on corruption open

    President Muhammadu Buhari, will Tuesday declare open a two day seminar aimed at formulating a legislative framework for the anti-corruption fight in the country, the Senate said Monday.

    The seminar being organised by the Senate and House of Representatives committees on Anti-Corruption, has as its theme: “The role of the legislature in the fight against corruption in Nigeria.”

    A statement by the Special Assistant to Senate President on Print Media, Chuks Okocha, said that Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara will co-host the anti-corruption seminar.

    It said that Senate Committee Chairman on Anti-corruption, Senator Chukwuma Utazi, explained that “the seminar is to give legal strength to the anti-corruption fight of the present administration and to create legislative synergy for the anti-corruption fight”.

    “The seminar is aimed at making good the promise of the National Assembly that we are on the same page with the President Buhari led administration and in line with the legislative agenda, that there is a synergy between the National Assembly and the Presidency in the fight against corruption.

    “It is to reaffirm the point that you cannot clap with one hand. It is our way of saying that there must be a legislative strength to back the anti-corruption stance of the present administration”, Utazi said.

    The keynote address of the seminar, it said, will be delivered by Prof. P. L. O. Lumumba, Director General of the Kenyan Law School who is also an international scholar on the issues of corruption.

     

  • Recovered loot for infrastructure devt – Amaechi

    Recovered loot for infrastructure devt – Amaechi

    Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi Tuesday appealed to Nigerians to be patient and give the administration more time to achieve its objectives.

    Speaking at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja, Amaechi said the money recovered from the ongoing corruption fight would be used to provide infrastructure.

    According to him, the government has started paying contractors not appointed by the current administration, noting that such action represents service delivery to the people.

    He added: “We encountered challenges; were we expecting to encounter those challenges? yes; did we think that we will meet the quantum or volume of those challenges?

    “We didn’t anticipate that things were this bad. We thought you go to government and there would be money for you to run government and others.

    “Now you have the situation where there is no money to run government. I hate to use the word difficult; I hate to use the word impossible but we met things close to difficult and impossibility.

    “That is why Nigerians are impatient; they want to see results and for them, change is not about change in structure, it is about change in their pocket.

    “Because their pocket is getting dried and they wanted us to put some more resources in their pocket.

    “Because of the structural changes that we want to put in place is not getting all that they want to get.

    “ What I usually say to people is that we beg you to give us time; we will achieve our objective if you give us time and we will both thank God for that opportunity.’’

  • CAN, Bible Society back Buhari’s fight against corruption 

    CAN, Bible Society back Buhari’s fight against corruption 

    Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Bible Society of Nigeria (BSN) in Kaduna have thrown their weight behind President Muhammadu Buhari on his anti-corruption war, saying Buhari is the messiah that Nigeria needs to succeed as a nation.

    The two Christian umbrella bodies stated this at the closing of their annual one week of prayers for unity of the church and the country, entitled, “Universal Week of Prayers”.

    Speaking to newsmen in an interview at the event held at Our Lady Catholic Church, Independence Way, Kaduna, Chairman of the Planning Committee of the annual prayers, Pastor Adeyemi Isaac said, the level of national resources carted away by few individuals was unacceptable, when majority of Nigerians are languishing in poverty.

    According to him, “We like the anti-corruption war the government is bringing forth, because it is from there a lot of things are being revealed, which we know nothing about. The amount of money we hear from the media that people have gone away with. It is really embarrassing, when poverty has eaten so deep into the country that, it remains only for us to be eating from the dustbin, like the late Umaru Dikko  said. But, you can see that many are getting close to the dustbin. We are only praying to God that this will not happen to us, in Jesus name.

    “Buhari is the Messiah for this country. God really sent him. You can even see the way he won the election. It is a miracle. That is why we will continue to pray for him to succeed. We believe whenever he will be leaving, whether one term or two terms, depending on God, whenever he will be leaving, we believe this country will not remain the same again. And whoever will take over from him will either carry on with his programmes or God will not let him be there.

    “Thank God, we are witnessing change in the country, the church too must  follow suit with this positive change. What are we talking about? The church must change from the past way of doing things to new way that is being united, no matter our denomination. We must pray together for the country and Kaduna State in particular.

    “Part of why we are here is for this prayer to lay a good foundation for this year. Throughout the year, we don’t want to experience any bad thing. And any bad thing that is coming, we pray to Almighty God to suppress it.

    “The issue of Boko Haram, we are praying to God to help us, not only to suppress it, but terminate them and remove them from the surface of the earth entirely. Because we have lost so many souls. So many souls have been lost for nothing, children, women, men, so many of them are displaced. Look at where they are. No matter what you give to them, they cannot be comforted like in their homes. Their homes have been destroyed, their farmlands destroyed,” he said.

    He blamed the security challenges like insurgency, pipelines vandalism, kidnapping and militancy in the country on poverty created by unemployment.

    He however expressed optimism that President Muhammadu Buhari will succeed in his plan to resuscitate comatose industries and create jobs for millions of Nigeria youths.

    Asked whether Buhari can still lead Nigeria at 78 by 2019. Pastor Isaac said “Even if Buhari contests for second term at 78, Buhari is just an entity, he has advisers and ministers around him, he will still perform, because he can delegate people who will stand by him in truth.”